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$900 million Doesn’t Go Very Far These Days

Tribune Co. and the Ricketts family have allegedly reached an agreement on terms that would allow the Tribune Co. to sell the Cubs, Wrigley Field and a 25% share of ComCast SportsNet Chicago to the Ricketts. This of course pending approval by MLB and a court of law considering Tribune has filed for Chapter 11.

$900 million doesn’t go very far these days if all you can get are the Cubs, Wrigley and a share of SportsNet. I’m kidding of course. I just can’t imagine having access to that much money. My girlfriend bought a new car a week ago committing to $20,000 over the next 6 years and she was like, OMG, I can’t believe I just committed to $20,000 over the next 6 years.

This cat Ricketts just committed to paying around $900 million dollars for an unbelievable prize he won in an auction bid. This guy makes following a $10 Cubs tee shirt on Ebay seem like a joke. Remember those old Mastercard commercials that always ended in something being ‘priceless’? The amount of Cubs lore and history the Ricketts will own, the events that have happened inside the walls of Wrigley are priceless…but apparently the same can’t be said for the actual physical being that the Cubs and Wrigley are. If you ever catch yourself saying that Wrigley is priceless, stop and rephrase because it definitely has a price….about $900 million.

This also goes to show though what a business this is to guys like Ricketts. The total disconnect between owners and fans and the reality in which both live in. No wonder some of the more expensive seats are empty around baseball. They are meant to sit people like you and I, only they’re owned by guys like Ricketts. Ricketts could throw away once worn pants with the amount of money it would cost for you and I to buy a field level CBOE seat for one game. He and the rest of the baseball owners, I feel, will never get what it takes for baseball fans to attend a game themselves, let alone bring their family. This is all of course, just a guess. I don’t know Ricketts personally. Maybe he’ll be different. Maybe he’ll get it. Maybe it won’t all just be about the money. We’ll see. What I do know is this. My girlfriend committed to a $20,000 and is all about watching her pennies and budget in this economy. You think a guy who just dropped $900 million on a purchase isn’t going to be thinking business first in a ‘how on Earth am I going to be able to make these payments’ kind of way? I’d be surprised if he wasn’t. New ownership is coming. A new day is on it’s way. The future may hold the ultimate prize for the Cubs someday, sure. But it’s the unknown of what we get with this rich cat Ricketts that worries me more. $900 million, huh? Time to go turn my change in at TD Northbank. I’m thinking of splurging on lunch.

2 thoughts on “$900 million Doesn’t Go Very Far These Days”

Hopefully the sale of the team doesn’t drastically change anything. The Cubs are a classic team that are doing just fine the way they are (except for that whole WS drought thing). Despite that they are a classy franchise and I hope they continue to be one.http://moneyball.mlblogs.com/

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